Dr Edith Summerskill: I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to prohibit professional boxing. I have sufficient faith in the good sense and understanding of hon. Members on both sides of the House to know that my critical attitude to boxing will receive some measure of support. I would recall to hon. Members who were here about 10 years ago that when I raised this matter then the opposition was such...
Dr Edith Summerskill: If I might just conclude this part of my argument—
Dr Edith Summerskill: I am trying to quote some absolutely objective authorities. A few skilled experts may escape, but after about fifty fights in a few years the ordinary fighter begins to show unmistakable signs of deterioration. [Laughter.] Hon. Members opposite are giving me my case without my having to make a speech. The boxer then fails to time his blows properly because the damage to his brain has caused...
Dr Edith Summerskill: Every day we see propaganda on behalf of the tobacco interests directed at young people. I asked the Minister a similar question last week about another matter. Can he tell us what form his propaganda is taking to counter the pernicious effects of the business interests?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Does the Minister think that in the African countries which are malaria-ridden our reputation is enhanced by our refusal to give one penny to the ad hoc malaria eradication fund?
Dr Edith Summerskill: In view of the information which the Chancellor of the Exchequer has given me about the disproportionate number of women who are refused admission to the London medical schools, can the right hon. Gentleman tell me whether there is any follow-up of these very bright students who would make good doctors, in order to see that they are found vacancies in other hospitals and are not lost to the...
Dr Edith Summerskill: In view of the fact that every hon. Member has a right to come to the Minister to ask him about lapses of time between the initial approval and the starting of the building, is it not a little curious that he is never given any information about the approval in the first place?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Does the hon. Lady agree that it is in the interests not only of this category of patients but in the interests of the Exchequer that this work should be conducted in the way that her Department thinks best?
Dr Edith Summerskill: What is the starting salary of a radiographer?
Dr Edith Summerskill: What form does this propaganda take? The right hon. Gentleman will recollect that the public health propaganda on the subject of venereal disease was obvious to the ordinary citizen. Now, I could not say, and the ordinary person could not say, where these people can see the notices about clinics. Can he tell the House what is being done and why this has been relaxed prematurely?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Can the hon. Lady tell the House what is the starting salary of a therapeutic dietician?
Dr Edith Summerskill: No wonder the hon. Lady cannot get them.
Dr Edith Summerskill: While I have no objection to the Minister's statement, can he tell the House why it has been necessary to make this change?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Does the Postmaster-General think that frequent displays of professional boxing which glamorise brutality implant fine qualities in our young people?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Am I right in saying that a person can keep two old people without having to register a place as a nursing home and that, in view of high rates and difficulty of housing these old people, there are opportunities for the most unpleasant sharks to exploit them? Will the Minister give attention to this question other than the question about nursing homes?
Dr Edith Summerskill: asked the Minister of Health what action he proposes to take to curtail the expensive methods adopted by the sales departments of certain drug houses engaged in the provision of drugs for the National Health Service.
Dr Edith Summerskill: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that 70 per cent. of the cost of some American drugs in this country can be related to advertising purposes? Is he aware that I have brought this matter to the attention of his five predecessors time after time and that the country is paying £70 million for drugs and that a great part of that amount can be related to undue advertising? Will he take some...
Dr Edith Summerskill: Can I add to what my right hon. Friend has said?
Dr Edith Summerskill: I think the Committee will agree that these Estimates were necessary in order to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission, but there are one or two questions I wish to ask. First, I suppose the Committee could ask whether this large sum is justified. If as a doctor I said that I thought it was, it might be felt that perhaps I was a little biased, but if one recalls the lay Press...
Dr Edith Summerskill: It is not stated in the Supplementary Estimates. This is known only if one has done one's homework fairly well. I say that to earmark £1 million of this large sum of money to improve general practice is tinkering with the problem. I would remind the Minister that this is probably the last time that such a large sum will be allocated in this way. In future, the Standing Review Body which the...
